Stealing is stealing

"They hand me all their work and leave the office at 2pm"

You won't find many people who would argue with you for wanting a child-free wedding—except, of course, those parents who think their little darlings are the exception to any and every rule. It can get a little harder to sell this idea, however, when you try and pass the “child-free” rule for one specific individual: your “bad apple” 9-year-old cousin. Let's consider here that in most cases, for a kid that young, the problem is actually the parents themselves… regardless of what “attempts” they…

We all have the idyllic When you grow up and realize that your kid's grandparents are also your in-laws, everything gains a new perspective. What's somehow even stranger, though, is coming to find that you're either “dad's side” or “mom's side” of the family for your sibling's kids. If a kid is telling you in earnest that they don't feel comfortable going to grandma's house, that alone is saying something.

As the saying goes, the punishment must fit the crime, and if the repercussions are too severe, no one is learning anything, and you're simply going to create a bad memory and lifelong resentment that will get brought up in 20 years at tense family dinners and when your kids attempt to talk to you about the trauma that you unintentionally caused them. Of course, as a parent, even if you have the best of intentions, you're not going to get everything right all of the time . And as teenagers, we'…

Memories are a funny thing in that each memory is shaped and reformed every time you recall it, making them easily susceptible to suggestion. Essentially, every time you recall a memory, you destabilize it and partially “destroy” it with your brain, then completing a process called reconsolidation to re-store it with your current thoughts and emotions added. As a brief tangent, this one one of the reasons why witness testimony is so problematic. This fluidity and fallibility of memory and abili…

Regardless of whether or not you've achieved immaterial enlightenment or are neck deep in the current iteration of the social-media-fueled consumerist frenzy, it's more than likely that you possess things that are your favorite. Chances are these items have some sort of sentimental value—a keepsake from a loved one or photographs that are irreplaceable despite having no measurable value. They may have some monetary value, too, regardless of whether or not you'd ever want to sell them. Heck, may…

It really should go without saying that you can't just go around renaming people just because you don't like their name for some reason. Even if—no, especially if—that person is a foster kid under your care. Some things like this are so outrageously laughable and out-of-pocket that they would be silly if they weren't so cruel… This 16-year-old foster child found himself facing hostility from his new foster family's extended family, who apparently came to the decision that his name, “Nico,” was…

As a kid, bedtime is one of the ultimate constraints; being forced to go to bed right at an exact time every night feels like authoritarian oppression, almost symbolic of the limitations being imposed upon you. Of course, when you're seven years old, your bedtime is really for your own good, it's not really like you can be trusted to make your own decisions at that point for whether or not you're tired. But still, who among us didn't “cheat” our bedtimes, playing in our rooms long after our par…

Spending the holidays with your husband's ex-wife sounds like prime material for a straight-to-streaming holiday-themed romantic comedy, but the reality is that it's not nearly as funny when it is your reality. This stepmother turned to this online community for advice on a complex personal problem she was facing and wondered if she was in the wrong for encouraging her 19-year-old stepdaughter to speak up about ending their joint family holiday gatherings with the stepdaughter's mother, her hus…

Everyone has problems—some may not be as bad, and others will be worse—a lot worse than yours. But that doesn't invalidate any one of those problems or anyone and their feelings. Yes, venting and sharing are good and can make you feel a lot better about your problems, but it's important that it's reciprocal. Like with anything in a relationship, you have to give as much as you take. This pregnant woman had been going through the motions with her friend, who was also pregnant. At first, she was…

We can all probably remember those peaceful weekend mornings, sun filtering through the basement playroom windows, curled up on the couch with our favorite bowl of way-too-sugary cereal that we had to beg our parents to buy. That cereal might as well have been gold; we certainly thought it was worth its weight in it. My parents, however, never showed an interest in eating this cereal themselves. Something about stale marshmallows and really overhyped Cheerios just wasn't all that appealing to t…

Not your cake

Eighteen years of age is when the training wheels of life really start to come off. Of course, it depends on your personal situation, but for the first time, you really get the chance to start making your own decisions. Many of us will be fortunate enough to still have the guidance of our parents, mentors, and guardians once we reach this age to hopefully prevent us from making life-altering mistakes that could dictate the rest of our adult lives. But, inevitably, mistakes will happen—we're all…

Siblings are a difficult part of growing up—even when you're an adult, you're going to be prone to troubles with them. But, during your developmental years, you're going to be constantly compared to them—both by yourself and others. This creates complex psychological interworking and can create complex disorders and issues. And this is just with normal siblings; I can't claim to have one myself, but I can only imagine that with twins, it's a lot harder. No longer are they only similar to you or…

All may be fair in love and war, but when it comes to family board game nights, you can expect the gloves to come off if you go for below-the-belt strategies. Nothing causes family arguments like a competitive board game—heck, even Candy Land games can get heated when someone draws that plum card at the end of a close game—or rockets ahead with a lucky snowflake draw early on. And that's before you get into games that have actual strategy Board games from the beginning of the “Board Game Renais…